Haunting Their Footsteps
by Sweet Taloa
Summary: For Kaoru and Kenshin, best friends, it was an adventure. Or at least, it was until they found the body. Now, they've been drawn into a deadly game that threatens to consume them.


"Kenshin, if we get found we are so going to be screwed."

Her best friend craned his neck around to flash her a grin before continuing down the abandoned trail ahead of her. "Don't worry Kaoru." He said teasingly, "They won't find us."

"And if they do?" Kaoru Kamiya pointed out dryly.

"We run." Was the equally dry reply. For some reason, that didn't comfort Kaoru much.

Why she had agreed to "go adventuring" with Kenshin, she would always wonder. Maybe it was that cute grin she couldn't resist, or the way his violet eyes flashed pleadingly with her. She always fell for those damn eyes.

"Don't worry Kaoru. It won't be far! I promise! Hah!" She muttered under her breath, daintily stepping over a pot whole. Currently, they were In The Middle Of Nowhere, as Kaoru had deemed it at her first sighting of the long trail. Then again, considering that they were trekking towards a abandoned government building that was still owned by the government, it was no wonder that it was in a place so remote, so distance, that no sane being would want to make the ten mile walk towards it.

Thank goodness that Kenshin and Kaoru weren't termed "sane" by most people.

When Kaoru had asked where they were going, Kenshin had flashed her a wink and replied, "It's a mystery!" Twelve minutes later he was spilling all he knew under threat of the entire world being shown the embarrassing pictures that had been taken when he was asleep. Complete with a chocolate mustache and whip cream for a beard. Ah, fond memories.

Apparently, the government had used the building for top-secret tests in the '50s. For a reason known only to them, they had abandoned it to the wilderness. Destroying it would have cost them to much money at the time, and the best way to get rid of something was to let Mother Nature herself take care of it. That was why it still stood today, instead of ruins.

Supposedly, and no one knew for sure, the building was still watched over by guards. No one really knew, because no one had been stupid enough to get close enough to find out. Like any other old deserted building, it was rumored to be haunted. Usually by the time the ten-mile walk was done, the teenagers who had stumbled onto the path would be to scared to go any closer. Kenshin was determined to get close enough to see what was in the building, and he insisted on Kaoru going with him. Like any other best friend, Kaoru had shrugged, rolled her eyes, mumbled something about stupid redheads, and proceeded to follow Kenshin.

Kaoru didn't really have any qualms about going to the abandoned building. She thought herself quite rational, and thus ghosts, vampires, and other such general things that went bump in the night did not exist in her mind. Unlike Kenshin, she wasn't overly curious about the supernatural, but she did like to have the odd adventure every now and then with her best friend. Adventures meaning running from enraged teachers and other students, along with the odd security guard thrown in. The "see how long it would take for the store clerks to notice that the odd red head trying on dresses was a guy and not a girl" had been a particular disaster. Misao was still laughing about it.

"I think we're almost there." Kenshin said softly up in front of her. He was standing still, red hair in a high ponytail swinging back and forth with the wind. For some reason, he wasn't moving.

"Oh good, because I am really sick of walking. And for future reference, I am never going to agree to do anything with you—what the heck is that?" Kaoru gaped as she pulled up along side Kenshin. The cause of him stopping, and her out burst lied in the huge building that lay in front of them.

It was certainly like no building Kaoru had ever seen before. Pure ebony in color, it looked like it was made from obsidian. Why anyone would make a building out of obsidian was beyond Kaoru. The top was a huge dome, with a small point in the middle. From where they stood, neither Kaoru nor Kenshin could see any opening in the building.

"Looks like some huge black beetle." Kaoru remarked off handily from next to Kenshin. He chuckled, looking at it.

"Indeed it does. Wonder what it was used for? And wouldn't making it out of that material cost more than making it out of something more… sensible?"

"How am I suppose to know? You're the one who wanted to see it. You're also the one who's smart enough to figure it out." Kaoru remarked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "But you're right. Now that I'm here I want to know what it was used for. Maybe it was a nuclear power station?"

Kenshin shrugged. "Lets go see."

When they finally made it down the slope, Kaoru was starting to get nervous. She kept imagining eyes looking at her, but no matter where she looked she only saw Kenshin's red hair. She shrugged it off as just an over-active imagination.

Up close, the building looked even creepier. There were no scratches or scrapes along the smooth surface, and from where Kaoru stood it looked unnatural. It shouldn't have been possible for the building to remain that perfect when it was suppose to be eroding in the middle of the woods.

"Have you found a door yet?" Kaoru whispered to Kenshin. Why she was whispering she didn't know. She couldn't see anyone, but she couldn't quite shake the feeling that someone could see her.

Kenshin threw her an amused look at her whispering, but whispered back "Nope, not yet. We haven't checked the other side, though." Kaoru nodded, and followed him around to the back. The building was big, so it took at least three minutes. In those three minutes, Kaoru found herself getting increasingly more nervous. It was a warm day, close to summer, but she began to feel herself shaking. Desperately, she wrapped her arms around herself, and swallowed.

_There is nothing watching you. Nothing at all. You are imagining things, Kaoru, so stop it!_

"Ah ha!" Kenshin's muted shout of joy came from in front of her. It appeared that he had found the opening.

Quickly, Kaoru rushed to catch up, nearly slamming in to his back. Her shivers became more desperate, and she clenched her teeth tightly to keep them from chattering. It was ridiculous, she wasn't even that cold. Just her bones, and her muscles, and her heart…

Yeah, not cold at all.

The door, luckily, looked like any normal door to any normal building. Kaoru sent up a small prayer of thanks. She wasn't sure how she would have been affected if the door was as normal as the building. Probably go into some self-made coma, knowing her.

"Hey, you all right?" Kenshin asked suddenly, catching site of her shaking form. Kaoru nodded quickly.

"Perfectly fine. This place is just kind of creepy."

Kenshin sent her a dubious look, but didn't say anything else. He knew her well enough to know that suggesting they go back would reward him a firm, swift hit to the head. Living around or near Kaoru, you learned things like that pretty quickly to save yourself from bodily harm.

"Well than, let's go in."

"Sure it will open?" Kaoru asked, frowning. Wouldn't a building that belonged to the government be locked?

"That," Kenshin said with a mischief grin, "Is why I stole Sano's lock-pick kit."

Kaoru sighed. Sano was a nice friend really, and she loved him dearly, but he had some odd past times.

After Kenshin successfully managed to pick the lock, and Kaoru worried about alarms going off why he did that, the door opened.

The first thing Kaoru noticed was that it was dark. As in pitch black, no light at all, I will swallow you whole dark. She was fairly sure she made a noise that sounding something like "Erk" but Kenshin didn't comment on it, so she pretended it never happened.

After some more time was wasted as the two teenagers rummaged through their pockets, two flashlights were found and the pale beams were pointing into the darkness.

"Wonder if there are any light switches in there?" Kaoru asked, her soft voice sounding hopeful.

"I don't see any power lines or anything of the sort, and if there were any light switches, they were probably disconnected when they abandoned the building." Kenshin said, squashing that idea. Kaoru sighed.

"Great. It's dark and creepy, and we just have these two flashlights. What else could go wrong? And why did I agree to come, anyway?"

In true horror-story fashion, her own flashlight flickered and went out, leaving only Kenshin's flickering into the darkness of the building.

Kaoru sighed, pushed the now broken flashlight into the pack pocket of her jeans, and shot Kenshin a glare.

"I'm not sure how, but this is all your fault. When I find out how you did it, I'll… I'll cook for you for an entire month!" Kaoru exclaimed angrily.

"Oro?"

"You deserve it." She huffed heatedly.

"But Kaoru, I just invited you to come along. And you agreed. And I really didn't do anything to your flashlight…" Kenshin protested weakly.

"Let's just go in." She snapped back.

Blaming everything on Kenshin always had a way of warming her up, and of making her forget her fear of the place. Even though she had managed to successfully take her mind off of the suffocating darkness by thinking up dishes she could cook for her red haired friend, she still found herself sliding closer to Kenshin until she was nearly latched on to him.

Kenshin swept his flashlight along the walls and floor of the building, and what was revealed was a huge, empty room with a dome-shaped roof. The entire inside was just as black as the inside, and whenever the pale beam of light swept over it, the walls managed to sparkle eerily.

By now, Kaoru thoroughly regretted her decision of ever wondering what was inside. The feeling of eyes on her back was stronger than ever, and from the way Kenshin was tensed up besides her, she knew that he finally felt it too.

"This place is even creepier on the inside." She whispered, following the flashlight as it swept around the room.

"Mmm." Came Kenshin's reply.

Kaoru frowned. She was just about to make a retort when Kenshin's flashlight settled on another doorway on the far side. All words forgotten, both Kenshin and Kaoru looked at each other and decided that it would be a good idea to check it out.

Moving across the floor proved to be a harder task than it looked. Whatever the floor was made of, it was slippery, and Kaoru found herself falling onto it many times. Kenshin managed not to fall down once, but he was still having a hard time.

_All right. This is bad. If someone attacked us right now, we would have a heck of a time escaping. This is really, really bad. Than again, the attacker would have a hard time escaping too. Unless he knew how to walk on these cursed floors. Which would be bad for us. I can't defend myself if I couldn't even stand…_

Kaoru shuddered. She didn't like this feeling of total helplessness. Kenshin was frowning, and she knew her friend well enough to guess that he felt the same.

Kenshin had kept the flashlight pointed steadily on the doorway, and when Kaoru got close enough to see it, she felt her breath hitch.

Unlike the normal doorway that led inside, this wasn't a door. More like an opening. From so far away, neither of the two teens had been able to see if there was some black door. Instead, it was a gaping hole that looked like a doorway. Along the edges, symbols followed along the opening in an odd line.

They looked nothing like what Kaoru had seen. Just ghostly squiggles that practically screamed sinister. And what was making Kaoru slowly start to back away while staring at them wide-eyed was the way that no matter how hard she stared at them she could never make them out. It the glimmer of the flashlight, they shifted and moved, wiggled and jumped right under her very eyes. It was unnerving, and Kaoru found it hard to breathe.

All she knew were those symbols, that they were there and that there was something just _wrong_ about them. That they shouldn't have existed, that it was bad that they did. That if they existed for much longer something dire would happen if it hadn't already.

And no matter how hard she tried, Kaoru would never be able to tell how she knew those startling facts. Just that they were true, and that it was real, and that something had to be done.

"Kaoru? Kaoru! Look at me Kaoru!" She dimly became aware of something shaking her, but those symbols still held her fast in their grip, and she couldn't look away from those odd shifting, moving hieroglyphics…

Or at least, she couldn't until they were blocked by a worried pare of violet eyes with amber flecks in them.

Immediately slumping down, she let her best friend embrace her as they both sank to the floor. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her head into her chest.

"Kenshin?" Kaoru whispered in the dark.

"What is it tanuki?" He said, softly stroking her hair. For once she let the nickname slide.

"I don't like this place. And I like that door even less."

"I know, Kaoru. I don't like this place much either." In his arms, Kaoru shuddered.

"Do you want to tell me what happened? You really scared me there for a second." Kenshin asked softly, staring down at his best friend.

"I don't know what happened." Kaoru admitted sheepishly. "I just… couldn't look away. Those symbols… Kenshin, did you see how they moved?"

Kenshin looked down at her, than slowly shook his head negative.

Kaoru looked up at him sharply. Then angrily, "You don't think I'm insane, do you? Because I know what I saw! And those symbols were moving!"

"Kaoru," Kenshin's soft voice quieted her protests. "I don't think you're insane at all. If you say you saw something I didn't, I believe you."

He stood up, pulling the girl who he had been hugging just a second ago up as well. "I think that it's time to go inside that door now, though." Kenshin said.

"Did you hear anything I said? I really, really don't like that door Kenshin. I think… I think it would be better if we left."

"Kaoru, we've come this far. We can't just leave now. And won't it haunt you forever if you don't know what's inside that door?"

"No. I'll be quite content not knowing." Kaoru responded immediately. She was giving the door untrusting looks.

Kenshin sighed.

Wrapping his arms around her again, he leaned his forehead against hers, ignoring her startled flinch. Just like when they were younger, maybe 5 to 12, he whispered, "Don't worry Kao, I'll protect you."

The familiar phrase brought a smile to her lips, and she allowed herself to bask in the familiarity of it. As she had always done when they were younger, she whispered back, "Promise?"

She couldn't see his smile, because the flashlight was currently pointing down, but she knew his smile was there just like it always was when they did this certain ceremony.

"I promise." Then he tapped her nose lightly, and gently took her hand in his, tugging her towards the door.

Kaoru took a deep breath, steeled herself, and prepared to do battle. She wasn't a coward, and if Kenshin wanted to see what was on the other side of that door, then by golly she would be there with him. She could practically feel the amusement radiating off him, but she didn't care. That door may be evil, but she wasn't scared of evil.

The symbols flashed slightly under the beam of light, and Kaoru had to bite back a whimper.

Okay, so maybe she was still scared of evil, but wasn't there some phrase that talked about facing your fears?

The door loomed closer like an ominous cloud overhead, and Kaoru tightened her hand in Kenshins.

It was drawing nearer, and nearer. It was so close she could almost touch it…

She almost did touch it. The symbols flashed as if to mock her, and she felt them drawing her in again.

They wanted to touch her, to consume her, and she was utterly powerless to stop them…

And then they were through.

In a huge gush of air, Kaoru let her breath explode outwards. She hadn't even been aware that she holding it. The door led to stairs, old stairs carved out of stone that spiraled downwards so you couldn't see what was at the bottom. The walls were made of stone, Kaoru felt odd to be out the complete darkness of the building. Not that this felt any better. Kenshin looked at her, caught her eye, and grinned.

'It was fine,' he mouthed to her, not wanting to talk in the complete silence only broken by their steady breathing. She gave a weak smile in return.

They slowly made their way down the stairs, hands still linked, Kenshin's flashlight bobbing up and down. Kaoru looked around her, frowning. From the way it was built, it looked like this passage was carved directly out of the stone in the ground. She hadn't thought that there was stone this thick around this area. Maybe when she got back home she would do a little research.

The room that the passage way came sooner than expected.

Kaoru was just feeling for the next step, and then suddenly she was in a room. She frowned, looking up to see where Kenshin held the steady glow of the flashlight.

What she saw made her breath stop.

Kenshin's flashlight was actually not needed. Instead, hundreds of candles were placed around the room, lighting up every corner of the small room. It was about the size of her bedroom. What the candles lighted up though, made Kaoru wish that they were not there.

Blood splattered all the walls, and she was positive it was blood from the smell she caught as she took in a frightened breath. She gagged on that awful, horrible smell, and her eyes, which were trying to desperately look away found themselves sleeping across the room.

Everywhere, blood. It was painting the walls, the floor, and there was even some on the ceiling. A mangled body had been pushed into a corner, so disoriented that it was almost hard to tell it was a body.

Kaoru stumbled, brushing against Kenshin and nearly falling on him as her horrified eyes took in the entire site. He was breathing raggedly next to her, his now fully amber eyes sweeping around just as desperately as hers were. Trembling, he reached his arms out and Kaoru threw herself at him, so he was hugging her just as tightly as she was hugging him.

Kaoru felt like she was going to throw up, but she couldn't force herself to let go of Kenshin. She gulped, trying to fight the rising of bile in her throat.

"Kaoru." Kenshin's voice was just as ragged as hers. "Kaoru," He repeated, "That blood… That blood, it's fresh. And the candles… They haven't been lit for long. Whatever… whatever happened happened a couple of… a couple of hours ago."

His horrified gaze lowered to meet her own.

o-o-o-

Not sure what to make of this. I swear, I didn't write this story at all. It just did itself, and I have never had a beginning chapter this long... Ah well. Also, I KNOW that there is a bucket full of grammar mistakes. I am in desperate need of a beta, as I usually just find myself stressing over grammar. So, err, maybe you could ignore them for now?

Also, the nuclear power plant in the middle of the forest is owned by Anthony Horowitz, from Raven's Gate, which this story will be very, very slightly based off. I might take a few more elements from that wonderful book, but I doubt it. I just needed an area that would convenient. The moving symbols on the door, is um, well from something but I just don't remember what. I was thinking of the book 'Riddles of Elipson' which was also a very good book. If you've read either, you'll understand where I got some of my elements.


End file.
